Antonio Fresu, the Italian-born leading rider at the current Santa Anita spring meeting, has a predictable summer vacation plan beginning next week.
Like so many people in the United States, he’s off to Europe.
Fresu has trips planned to Sardinia, Italy, to see family, and to Norway to visit his wife, who works as a commentator on Norwegian racing television. He is highly likely to embark on those journeys after securing the riding title at Santa Anita when the meeting concludes on Sunday.
J.G. Torrealba and Yedsit Hazlewood, leading jockeys at Laurel Park, were in a car accident early Tuesday morning. Torrealba was unharmed in the incident, but Hazlewood sustained multiple injuries and is expected to miss significant time.
According to trainer Jose Corrales, who helped Hazlewood travel to the United States and find mounts earlier this year, the two jockeys were traveling back from New York and were attempting to maneuver around a car ahead of them. The trainer said that they hit a rail beside the road, which flipped the car.
It took two magical minutes in 2022 for Sonny Leon to become a household name, forever and always a Kentucky Derby winner. Nestled among names like Smith, Velazquez, and Castellano, his winning ride aboard 80-1 longshot Rich Strike will forever mark him in one of racing’s most precious record books.
No one stumbles into a Derby mount. Far from the public eye the vast majority of his 11-year career, it has always been a march for the 35-year-old rider, a grinding search for recognition and respect in a sometimes unforgiving business.
Churchill Downs Inc. has informed the Louisiana Racing Commission that it intends to give up its racing and gambling licenses for Fair Grounds Race Course in New Orleans and its offtrack betting parlors because of dissatisfaction over a recent state Supreme Court ruling and its own unsuccessful efforts to gain relief from the legislature.
The owner of Hastings Racecourse and Casino in Vancouver, British Columbia, has reached an agreement to sell the “casino business and related real property” to a First Nations tribe in a deal that still needs various approvals and due diligence to close, according to the two sides in the purchase.
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. - Though Deterministic had won his first two starts on dirt, including the Grade 3 Gotham Stakes, Miguel Clement was curious to see how the horse would move on the turf. One day, in early 2024 at Payson Park, Clement let Deterministic gallop in the infield.
“He moved like a dream,” said Clement, who was working as an assistant to his father, Christophe.
But the horse was preparing for the Wood Memorial and a potential shot at running in the Kentucky Derby. Miguel Clement didn’t say anything.
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – After answering the distance question once and for all with her authoritative, 4 3/4-length victory going 1 1/8 miles in Friday’s Ogden Phipps, Dorth Vader has suddenly emerged as a major player in the filly and mare handicap division for the second half of the season.
Trainer George Weaver said Dorth Vader came out of her first Grade 1 win in good order and that he is now in the process of mapping out an itinerary that, if all goes well, would culminate with a start five months down the road at Del Mar in the Breeders’ Cup Distaff.
ETOBICOKE, Ontario – Woodbine has canceled Friday’s seven-race card due to poor air quality caused by the wildfires burning in Saskatchewan, Manitoba, and Northern Ontario.
The decision to cancel was made through consultation with the HBPA and is consistent with the Alcohol and Gaming Commission of Ontario’s air-quality guidelines.
The AGCO is recommending racetracks cancel upcoming workouts, qualifiers, and races if the Air Quality Health Index (AQHI) is in the high risk (7-10) range. The current rating in Etobicoke is 9.
